Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
Parthian Invasion, Phasael’s Death, and Herod’s Flight to Rome
Two years later, Barzaphanes, the Parthian satrap, together with the king’s son, Pacorus, occupied Syria. Lysanias had now inherited the principality of Chalcis on the…
Antipas as Tetrarch
Now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favor with Tiberius, built a city and called it Tiberias. He built it in the best part of Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth, which is near a village called…
Revolt in the Galilee
When the Jews who had pursued Cestius returned to Jerusalem, they either forced or persuaded any remaining pro-Romans to join their movement, and held a mass meeting at the temple to appoint further…
The Sack of Jerusalem
Now masters of the walls, the Romans planted their standards on the towers and clapped and sang in joyful celebration of their victory. They had found the final stages of the war much…
Emperor Justinian and the Nea Church
Such were the works of the Emperor Justinian in Cilicia. And in Jerusalem he dedicated to the Mother of God a shrine with which no other can be compared. This is called by the natives the “New Church”…
Jews and the Sasanian Queen
At this time, it so happened that the queen fell ill. Since she was favorably inclined to the enemies of the cross, the Jews, they told her, making their customary false accusation: “The sisters of…
Alexander Bows to the High Priest
On the twenty-fifth day of [the month of Tevet], [known as] the day of Mount Gerizim [on which it is forbidden to eulogize], on that day the Samaritans asked Alexander the Macedonian [for permission]…
The Martyrdom of Hannah and Her Seven Sons
As for Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter (Psalm 44:23). And R. Judah said: This [verse applies to the] woman and her seven sons [who died as martyrs…
King Shapur II and Rav Ḥama Debate Jewish Burial Practices
King Shapur [once] said to R. Ḥama: From where in the Torah is there a hint to [the commandment of] burial? [What proof is there that the dead must be buried and not treated in some other manner? R…
The Essene Settlement West of the Dead Sea
On the west side of the Dead Sea, but out of range of the noxious exhalations of the coast, is the solitary tribe of the Essenes, which is remarkable beyond all the other tribes in the whole world, as…
The Son of Man and the Messianic Secret
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist…
Sabbath as a Time of Teaching
As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next sabbath. When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism…